punchandjudy

Hi guys,

Has anyone found a place in Bangkok which sells earwax remover drops (hydrogen peroxide?)

In the UK they are available over the counter, but here I have tried Boots, Watsons and other pharmacies and they all told me they do not stock ear drops.

Any idea a place I can get some or do I need to go to a doctor and get prescribed the earwax removal drops?

Cheers

Krungsri, SCB etc - these mobile banking apps are convenient for checking and transferring money on the move.

BUT...

How worried are you on a scale of 1 to 10 about fraud?

I know you have to enter an additional passcode for the apps but I am sure hackers are always looking for ways to get our money.

Just wondering if you use mobile banking in Thailand and if you feel worried about getting hacked, getting your phone stolen and used before you have a chance to go to your bank and tell them to cancel your mobile banking etc.

Cheers guys

To me:

A shirt is a shirt.

A watch is a watch.

A smartphone is a smartphone.

One really interesting thing here is how people are obsessed with designer and luxury brands.

I have seen construction workers and manual labour etc who do not appear to earn very much, yet some still have iPhones.

Is it because they want to show off to their peers and strangers on the street that they have the money to buy an iPhone?

Why is standing out through material possessions so important?

Apart from walking and resting in parks, what do you guys do on your days off to relax?

I am looking for new ideas, something a bit different - airsoft, paintball, etc.

Also theatre - I would love to watch a play or show or something (other than a ladyboy show or Muay Thai show).

Cheers lads

1 hour ago, manchega said:

also not convinced banks are good places for saving money, not sure any of these (outside of aforementioned co op) beats inflation.

Where do you suggest is good for saving Manchega? Thanks

On 4/2/2019 at 5:23 PM, zig said:

> The best I saw was TMB and UOB at 3.5% interest.

 

Where did you find such rates? I just looked and they seemed to offer 1.5% and 1.45% respectively and that was on 24 months fixed deposits. 

https://www.1213.or.th/App/MCPD/DepositApp

I cannot read Thai so if the person I asked to translate for me explained wrong I apologise.

Can someone who reads Thai explain this link please?

19 hours ago, CharlieH said:

 

Is this it ??

Similar to this one Charlie yes, but a lot smaller.

I feel pretty silly now but they probably are just baby cockroaches lol ????

Can anyone help me to identify this pest in my room?

I cannot take a photo because it always runs away too fast.

Basically it is an insect a bit smaller than a cockroach but a similar sort of shape, with antenna at the front.

It is brown in colour and moves very fast.

When I get back to my room it is always around my bin (that I empty daily), and when it senses I am here it quickly scurries away.

No idea what it is called in English and Thai, if someone can help me I would appreciate it. 

Hi my fellow farangs,

I have done searching online and there are so many different banks being suggested with different interest rates.

The best I saw was TMB and UOB at 3.5% interest.

Can anyone share some information on which bank in Thailand is the best to put money into to save and gain interest in the long term?

Thank you very much ????

Hey guys,

Firstly, I spent last night searching through old posts already on this topic.

I saw insurance comparison websites in English language such as Mister Prakan mentioned. However on Mister Prakan, many of the policy details don't load for me.

Questions:

1. Can you please link me to any other good price comparison websites for health and accident insurance in Thailand? (English language)

2. Difference between accident and health insurance - at the risk of sounding dumb, please can someone explain the difference?

My limited understanding is if you have an accident eg. Fall off a motorbike, that would be classed as an accident for accident insurance. You would then need to go to hospital which in my mind is health insurance, not accident insurance.

So is accident insurance just the cover for a good ambulance service? Sorry, I come from a country that has a National Health Service which explains why I know little about health insurance.

3. How much do you pay for your insurance? Have you had to use it?

Thank you Thai Visa members.

I am starting to get paranoid that I may be being hacked or have picked up a virus?

Is it normal for an AIS 4G signal to stop working a couple of times a day briefly?

I don't ask for much, I just expect a reliable 4G in Bangkok. Maybe I expect too much!

On 11/11/2018 at 1:46 PM, Patanawet said:

Very funny Cadbury but I was told that it is due to the person on the other end using speaker. Your voice is delayed slightly and then picked up by the other's mic.

I really don't understand people listening on loudspeaker -- first it is not private and hard to hear from  ambient noises. Far better to use a 'small talk' where you can hear clearly and your voice is clearer from the smalltalk mic. and you don't have to shout to make yourself heard at the other end.

Patanawet I have also heard that speakerphone leads to echo but never knew the reason, your explanation sounds good. I also don't understand why so many here like to use a smalltalk with earphones.

In the UK people tend to hold their mobile phone to their ear whilst talking :)

Good evening Bangkokians,

How many of you also get a very frustrating echo of your own voice when in a LINE voice call?

I am wondering what the specific cause is?

"Bad signal" is fair enough but is there a particular reason for echo? As bad signal you would think would cause the call to cut out, not echo.

Thanks.

Just out of interest, I am wondering for expats (Thais too) what the general salary potential and path is.

I know that in general from what I know, for Thais coming out of university with a degree who can speak English, salary tends to start at 30,000 Baht per month for an office job. 

This is an extremely broad question but for an average Thai person who is bilingual working in business, what could they end up earning down the line in terms of year on year increase?

For expats in business, young university graduates coming to Bangkok, what could they expect from an office job initially?

In summary, does anyone have a link to any graph or table which shows average salaries for expats / Thais working in business in Bangkok?

I would like to have some reference of what a fair salary in Bangkok is. (Not sure if anything in life is fair to be honest ????)

I am on AIS.

I have a monthly package which gives me unlimited internet but it slows down after I have reached a certain download limit, which I understand.

The annoying thing is:

1. Once every few days the 4G will suddenly cut off for around 10-15 seconds for no reason. (Can't the engineers make the signal more reliable?)

2. Normally the 4G symbol is at the top of my phone. However I have recently noticed that almost every time without fail, the 4G will change to H or H+ about 1 second after I start to make an outgoing LINE voice call.

So ... What are your experiences? Which phone network gives you the best signal reliably?

I have bought bunches of bananas from Max Valu, Tesco Lotus and even the single ones from 7 Eleven.

Is it just me, or have bananas in the last few weeks been rock hard and not ripe at all, despite being yellow and ripe looking in colour? ????

I know Thai people tend to live bargaining, at least in the market.

For jobs however, what is the accepted method of negotiating a salary with a new or potential employer?

For example if you are expecting 50K, would you ask for 60K in preparation that they will try to negotiate?

Just wondering what your experiences of this are in the Land of Smiles. 

Thanks fellow expats. 

LINE is a wonderful way to communicate and for free it is a really good overall service, however the bugs in the software drive me mad sometimes!

(LINE app for Android, I check for updates almost every day.)

Before you tell me not to use LINE and to use an alternative, try telling that to all the Thais I communicate with daily!

Has anyone had this bug:

You tap on new unread messages in a LINE group chat. It then suddenly jumps back to a message in the group chat from 5 months ago. (This literally just happened to me).

LINE is huge so you would think they have programmers to write bug free software. (!)

What problems do you encounter with LINE?

2 hours ago, Kerryd said:

I used to have a termite problem, mostly when I was away working and the house was empty. They'd get in under the roof and make their way around until they found some material they could digest. (Wooden door frames must be delicious !)
I'd come home on holiday and find little "tunnels" around the door jambs or making a trail from the ceiling down a wall.

 

I'd grab a can of whatever spray poison I had and I'd soak those little tunnels until they were literally dripping. Wait a few days until they dried out then clean/scrape them off.

Had to do that a couple of times however, the last couple of years I've been in the house full time (no longer working) and haven't had a problem.

The termite queens will fly around in masses looking for a suitable home. I think it is when they are ready to mate that they shed their wings. The first time I saw that it looked really strange. Hundreds and hundreds of "wings" piling up in a corner of the patio (where the "breeze" seemed to push them all). Double checked to make sure all windows and doors were closed and sprayed all around them to try and keep any of the little SOBs from getting in.

So far, so good !

Personally, I'd just buy a can of bug spray and do the same thing. Soak the area until it is dripping. Let the room air out for awhile. Let the area sit and dry and then clean it up a couple of days later.

 

Depending on where they are getting in from and how large the colony is, it may not be worth the time, expense or hassle of having someone do it for you and the landlord could tell you it's your responsibility anyways (and blame you for the problem as well) !

 

Hey @Kerryd, thanks for your reply.

One of the apartment staff came to spray around my wardrobe and bedside table with a bug killer chemical spray called "Chaindrite". 

We also found that these little pests had been living on the bottom shelf of my wardrobe in a little hole and eating my wardrobe from the inside out! 

Fortunately they seem to have been eliminated from my wardrobe now and my bedside table which was also affected has been replaced.

I asked her if there will be any danger to my health from the spray and she said no it may just make my throat feel dry...

As I value my health I came out of my apartment for a while while I wait for the horrible smell to go, I left my fan on swing to try to neutralise the chemical smell.

It has been about 3 hours now since the chemicals were sprayed.

Am I worrying too much about having to inhale and breathe in these chemicals all tonight whilst I sleep that were sprayed right next to my bed?

I don't plan to die in my sleep.

Thanks.

Firstly, I live in a multi-storey apartment and am pretty high up so a little surprised as I thought termites tended to come from the ground into wooden houses. 

Anyway I picked up a box in my room and found hundreds of termites underneath it. I later looked behind where this box was, to a little gap between my wardrobe and bedside table. It is absolutely full of chewed up wood.

I will tell the apartment owner tomorrow but have some questions:

1. If chemicals are needed to kill the termites, will my apartment foot the bill or charge me as they are in my room?

2. I have heard some horror stories about the chemicals used to kill termites causing serious breathing problems for humans who later live in this room - anyone have any knowledge on this?

3. Is the best non chemical way to kill termites to use salt water?

4. How the hell did they get into my wardrobe/bedside table when my room is nowhere near the ground floor?

Thanks!

41 minutes ago, KneeDeep said:

A MiFi from Truemove H or AIS costs around 1500 baht.

 

Your can purchase unlimited data packages capped at speeds of 1 Mbps, 4 Mbps, 6 Mbps or 10 Mbps. The cost depends on for how long you need the package. Packages of six months or more are the cheapest.

You can also simply change the package that you use on your phone for one that does not slow down.

Thank you @KneeDeep, I will have a quick Google search now for this MiFi

Hi guys,

I am trying to learn to read and write Thai. I had a look at the pinned thread '3000 Thai words' but unfortunately the link is not working.

I have bought a couple of learn to write Thai books already.

I am wondering if fellow expats can suggest me any good online resources?

In particular, to learn the Thai vowels with worked examples of each vowel, as I find the vowels most difficult.

Thank you! ?